"I want to compete in
(left, at center), head
the Olympics," says
of Inter-Africa Group,
Louis Phiri (above).
and board director
Each day he practices Vladis Servus, at right,
golf, a proposed Olym-
consult with a client.
pic medal sport, at the The Johannesburg
Soweto Country Club,
company serves the
marking the holes with growing black middle
a stick and a plastic-
class by helping busi
bag flag.
nesses win contracts
Gaby Magomola
with larger white firms.
men, presumably Inkatha supporters, bran
dished spears and hatchets-Zulu weapons
later banned by the government except for cere
monial use. Many of the township residents
wore the ANC colors: green, gold, and black.
On a side street a crowd began to rock my car.
"Press!" I yelled. The rocking stopped. One of
the youths leaned in. "Do you have any extra
petrol?" he asked, holding a soft-drink bottle in
one hand and a rag in the other - the makings of
a Molotov cocktail.
Vosloorus residents said Inkatha bands had
launched the attacks. Hostel dwellers claimed
they had been assaulted. Members of each side
told me the same thing: "I'll revenge."
The ANC recently concluded that a climate of
"violence for the sake of violence" prevailed
within its own organization, a finding ANC
president Nelson Mandela called "a matter of
grave urgency." Mandela and Inkatha presi
dent Buthelezi have both pledged to campaign
against the factional fighting, and last Novem
ber they agreed to resume talks. Meanwhile the
violence continues, and the innocent are often
in the way.
Crime as well as political violence has risen.
Killings and brutality accompany holdups and
hijacks. Going to visit a neighbor after sundown
can be risky. Soldiers are patrolling the town
ships more often, but rarely at night, when the
streets are most dangerous.
What is the role of white soldiers in township
violence? President de Klerk denies it, but there
are indications that black violence is being
encouraged by right-wingers within the South
African security forces who are hostile to black
white rapprochement.
This was reiterated by the Goldstone
The Twilight of Apartheid